Spray Foam Insulation

Whether you're a business owner or a homeowner you need to save money where ever you can. Making sure you have a tightly and properly insulated building is just one way. Whether it's foam roof insulation, residential foam insulation, blown in insulation or steam pipe insulation you need to spend money to get quality insulation that will save you valuable energy money in the long run.

My husband and I are business owners, and home owners. We've tried to insulate both our buildings to the best of our ability. We have had foam roof insulation but on our business, and have open cell attic ceiling insulation. We have had expanding foam insulation added throughout the walls in our home. However the one type of insulation my husband and I hadn't thought about was steam pipe insulation.

We live in a very old home with an unfinished basement. It wasn't until we were visiting a neighbor that we learned about steam pipe insulation. He had placed it in his home. He said that he noticed how warm his basement was from the hot water pipes and knew it was costing him a lot of money. He wanted to capture that warmth and keep it in the pipes. He spoke with a builder who suggested that he use steam pipe insulation on all the pipes in his basement.

The type of insulation you're looking for is an easily identifiable fiberglass pipe insulation. In it's easiest to use form it's a piece of insulation that a is surrounded by a high intensity kraft paper. It's shaped like a pipe, and comes in different lengths and widths. It's easy to measure and then cut to fit perfectly. The steam pipe insulation comes with an adhesive strip to keep it on the pipe.

The type of steam pipe insulation that we chose was a Micro-Lok fiberglass pipe insulation. It can be used over hot or cold, concealed or exposed piping. The company Thermwell makes a pre-slit fiberglass self-sealing fiberglass tube pipe insulation that comes in a variety of lengths and widths. Tunuap and Armstrong also make insulating pipe tapes. Owens Corning insulation has fiberglass pipe insulation that has an R-value of 5 per inch. This steam pipe insulation is molded of heavy density resin bonded with inorganic glass fibers.

Installing steam pipe insulation is a very simple job that should be done by the homeowner. It's simple to measure and install preformed insulation on all the exposed pipes in your basement, or any area in your home to give you added energy saving.